First Steps
by EmeraldOfTheOcean
Summary: One Shot. Takes place after episode 7. Little Cato is still mourning the events of episode 6, but Gary and Mooncake come into comfort him. Little Cato then tells an interesting story about his father's past. Olan Rogers and TBS own Final Space


**Final Space belongs to Olan Rogers and TBS**

 **This story is meant to give Gary and Little Cato some more time together and more importantly, a possibility on Avocato's mysterious backstory. Please read, review and enjoy**

It was the night Little Cato nearly died attempting time travel. He lied in his father's bed, curled into a cat-like ball with a sorrowful expression and unable to fall asleep Despite Gary, Mooncake, and the others being there for him, he still had a sense of loneliness within his young heart. Despite his father's cruel actions, he was the only family he had ever known. He begged for more time with his late father, but alas, he would never see his badass body again. Never again would he hear his comforting voice, or feel the warmth of his fatherly embrace. Little Cato was on verge of tears once again, when suddenly the door opened, licking the room the bright hallway lights. Just as he uncovered his eyes, he felt a squishy levitating body nuzzle his face and announced sympathetically "Chookity Dookity"

"Ha ha, hey Mooncake." Little Cato chuckled as he gently pushed the little green alien off of him. It was then he noticed his new friend, Gary chilling by the door, waiting for Little Cato to notice him.

"Can't sleep, little man?" Gary asked sitting next to him. Little Cato held his tail in anxiety and looked down, replying

"How'd you know?"

"I couldn't sleep either the first few nights I lost my dad." Gary somberly replied crossing his arms. Little Cato widened his eyes at that statement. When he first met Gary, he thought he'd just be another boring adult, but no. He was more of a kindred spirit than he gave him credit for, and now he wondered what else he had in common with this strange man his father adventured with.

"Oh Jeez, I'm so sorry." Little Cato insisted, "It (sniff) it really sucks." he added, wiping his remaining tears as Gary placed an arm around his shoulders. "How long does the pain last?" he sobbed into his new friend's chest.

Gary sighed while patting the child's head "I'm gonna get serious with you, Little Cato, like bad guy serious; the pain never goes like. It's like that leech, KVN, it just stays and drains the passion out of you no matter how hard you try to get rid of it." he explained, much to Little Cato's dismay. Was he doomed to grief for the rest of his days? Even after he covered the Lord Commander in buttholes? Would nothing ever ease his pain?

"But I will say this," Gary continued as Mooncake floated next to him with a smile "I took the grasp of friends with your father, and he was part of how I cope with the losses I've faced. You can't replace family, but you seek a new one. And like we said literally an hour ago, you've got a family in me and Mooncake now. A family of butthole makers and universe protectors, do you understand that? Huh, do ya, do ya understand that?!" he laughed as he began to give Little Cato a brother like noogie.

Little Cato chuckled along as he pushed Gary off of him as he was given another hug by Mooncake, he thought about everything Gary just said and quickly took it to heart. Avocato wasn't perfect but he was very intelligent, Little Cato knew that if his father was crazy to trust a guy like Gary, then he must be able to trust him as well.

"Yeah, I think I get what you're saying. Thanks for trying to help me avenge my dad. I'm going to one day, but I'll have to be smarter about it."

"We both will." Gary smiled as he and Little Cato bumped fist together, "Hey, um... speaking of your dad, I've been meaning to ask how your dad ended up with the Lord Commander in the first place. All he said was it was because he didn't ask the question he didn't want to hear the answers to."

"... That makes no sense." the orange cat rose an eyebrow to that statement

"Exactly! That made about as much sense as bad tasting cookies, am I right HUE!?" Gary exclaimed, referring to HUE's poor tasting cookies but brought himself back down to continue the conversation "So, any ideas as to what your old man was talking about?"

With a sigh, the young teenager looked down into his lap, beginning the tale as he remembers it "I can't tell you every detail, but as a year old, we Ventrexians have stronger memories than most creatures would..."

 **(FLASHBACK)**

 _It was 14 years ago on the planet Ventrexia. Little Cato, a very Little Cato and his father, Avocato were in their village, simply alone in their small humble home and minding their own business. The blue feline was on his knees, waiting for his child to take his first paw steps ever. Avocato smiled as the boy was wabbling to rise to his chubby knees, but baby Cato was determined to earn a big hug from his loving father._

 _"Come on, Little Cato. Come to daddy, you can do it." the father cooed holding his arms and gesturing him to come forward with his fingers_

 _"A-da?" Little Cato babbled, trying to balance with his arms as he took one step forward, then another, then another, and several slow, wobbly step ahead. "Da-da!" with that exclamation, the orange kitten made it to his father and collapsed into his arms_

 _"Ah ha ha, my little boy can walk!" Avocato cheered as he lifted Little Cato in the air, twirled around once and kissed his child on his rosy pink nose "I'm so proud of you, Little Cato, ha ha!" the blue Ventrexian was so full of pride and glee that he gave the baby boy a raspberry, causing Little Cato to giggle hysterically and hug his father's head with his tiny claws._

 _Avocato sighed happily as he sat down in the rocking chair with Little Cato in his loving embrace. He pulled his tail up to Little Cato's range and began teasing him with it. He waved his tail in Little Cato's face as the giggling baby reached for the tail and began chewing on it_

 _"Ha ha ha, that tastes good_ doesn't _it, buddy?" he rhetorically asked, tickling the baby's chin to release his tail "You're probably hungry. Walking can take a lot out of you." he nuzzled his son affectionately as he stood up and made his way to the_ kitchen, _when all of a sudden..._

 _ **BOOOOOOOOOOM**_

 _Screams could be heard from outside the house. In a fatherly impulse, he hastily pulled his baby as close to his chest as possible and then rushed to the window to see what the commotion was. Invaders_

 _Avocato gasped as he saw the mysterious army barging their way into other people's houses, and making their way towards his home. Luckily, he was a trained warrior and had weapons and combat training prepared for this situation. There were secret compartments and walls hiding plenty of weapons all over the house, the soldiers won't know what hit them. First things first, however, he must protect his child. He hurried towards Little Cato's bedroom and gently placed him in the crib, releasing him with one last kiss on the forehead. Little Cato didn't want to be put down as he fussed and whined for his daddy to hold him again, but his father couldn't hold him at the moment. Using his security system, Avocato put a special force field around the crib, protecting the baby from all possible dangers no matter what. The only way to remove the force field was with a tiny remote that Avocato kept around his neck. Suddenly three bangs were heard followed by footsteps. The soldiers were entering the house. Then as Avocato ran out of the room, he camouflaged the door so it would hide within the walls. The feline grabbed his weapons and hid behind the next turn. The two dozen soldiers made their way down the hall, only to be hit with a sudden smoke bomb that clouded the hallway. Using stealth, the blue Ventrexian kicked several soldiers down and banged two more into each other. The remaining soldiers tried to shoot at the shadow but failed as Avocato was too fast for them._

 _"YAHHHH!" Avocato exclaimed as he tackled another soldier and stole his weapon, and began shooting towards the other soldiers, knocking out all twenty-four of the dangerous soldiers. Little did he know that this battle would change his life forever and for the worst. He was ambushed by one soldier who electrocuted Avocato, stunning him for a few moments. When he woke up, he was being outside of his home and was tossed in front of a mysterious figure. A figure_ known _to many as the Lord Commander_

 _"Two dozen of my finest men, taken out in an_ instant. _" he growled with a sinister expression_

 _"W-what?" Avocato coughed, sitting himself up. He'd never seen this strange green man before, but it was clear he was dangerous considering his army_

 _"You are a skilled warrior, what is your name, feline?" the Lord Commander as he offered his hand out for Avocato to shake. The Lord Commander was very curious about this strange Ventrexian warrior. He's a skilled fighting machine who could be very useful to his cause._

 _"My name is Avocato. What business of it is yours?" he replied nervously as he took the Lord Commander's hand and firmly shook it. Considering this guy had a huge army invading his village, the blue Ventrexian figured it would be best to peacefully cooperate with this man if it meant protecting the other people, as well as his son._

 _"I am the Lord Commander." he responded, releasing his hand, "I've come to your humble village to take some weapons to help me with my cause."_

 _"And what would your cause be?" Avocato asked curiously,_

 _"Simple, I wish to unite the universe under my eternal_ _power_. _" he explained, floating past him. "The problem is I'm lacking the proper men to help me run my vastly growing army. I need more men to aid me in my conquest. I had originally planned on hiring one of my newest recruits as my second in command, but considering how easily you took out the soldiers he was leading, I believe he's the wrong choice. I can't have such incompetent in my highest class of generals."_

 _"Why are you telling me all this, you little creep?" Avocato grunted as the Lord Commander used telekinesis to levitate the feline closer to him,_

 _"Because_ you, _Avocato, are one of the finest warriors I have ever seen. You are a prime candidate to be in my army, let alone as my second in command. Otherwise, I could burn down your entire home and bury you in the ashes, because anyone who's not with me must be destroyed._ "

 _Avocato gulped as he examined his options. He had heard rumors of a mysterious and dangerous conqueror invading innocent planets, but never believed them until this day. Mainly because he didn't want to believe it, but there was no denying it now. However, he was given an insane opportunity to serve the second in command to someone he didn't even believe was real a few minutes ago. Everything was happening so fast. The warrior glazed upon his invaded village, anyone who hasn't been attacked yet was fleeing from their homes at top speed. The blue Ventrexian knew that he would have to be a merciless killing machine under this "Lord Commander's" reign, but what choice did he have? He was able to take on twenty-four of this guys men, but he had no hope against an entire army. There were questions he didn't want to hear the answers to, so he decided that the only life for him and his life at this point was serving under the Lord Commander, or face a horrible death that he didn't want to imagine._

 _He sighed as he made his decision with a grim expression. He bowed to the hovering Lord Commander "I will serve under your rule so long you spare my life and my family. You have my word."_

 _"Ha ha ha ha, excellent. You may rise, Avocato." the Lord Commander chuckled as Avocato rose to his feet. "I will give you one hour to pack everything you wish to take with you. From now on, you will be my second in command. You will learn all of my secrets, my strategies, my motives until we are one with each other." he exclaimed crunching his fist in passion_

 _"Yes, Lord Commander, I will not keep you waiting." after another quick bow, Avocato reentered his home to begin packing his personal belongings._

 _(FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER)_

 _While the majority of his things were packed, Avocato disabled the camouflage on Little Cato's door and began packing his son's belongings into two big bags. After all of this packing, and all of this chaos, he could finally attend to his wailing child. Avocato disabled the force field and held Little Cato softly in his arms. He bounced the child in a soothing rhythm as he rubbed small circles on his hiccuping back_

 _"Shhhh, it's alright, son. Everything's going to be fine now, I promise." he shushed the baby as he slowly calmed his crying. With small whimpers, Little Cato stared up at his father with (ironically) puppy eyes as if he somehow knew what his father was doing and wasn't happy about it. "Listen, son." he sighed "Daddy's got a new job he's not proud of, but it's the only way I can us alive right now and hopefully safe from the Lord Commander's tyranny. If you can't beat em, join em right? ha." he chuckled nervously as Little Cato silently crossed his arms and pouted towards his father in disapproval. With one last sigh, Avocato grabbed the bags with Little Cato in a stroller and made his way towards the door. "I'm gonna regret this someday, buddy, but there's nothing else we can do now."_

 **(END FLASHBACK)**

"Whoa." Gary gasped in awe as Little Cato finished the story of how Avocato came to serve under the Lord Commander.

"Ooooooohhhhhhhh..." said Mooncake

"Your dad didn't really have a choice if he wanted you to stay alive."

"Yeah, I remember he told once me that the Lord Commander was 'happy' to have me alongside my dad," Little Cato put air quotes around "happy" "that is until he tried to have me killed and imprisoned me for three, and killed my father- MAN is he gonna get some buttholes!" Little Cato stood up and growled in pure anger, still wanting his father back after remembering what Avocato went through to protect him

"Hey, hey hey... easy, Tiger. Easy Tiger Cato." Gary stopped him as he sat him back down by his shoulder. "I understand you want revenge, but you at the very least need to sleep. You can clear your head, and we can focus on the mission at hand; closing Final Space," he explained with a surprising amount of maturity and calmness "does that sound good, little man?"

"Chookity?" asked Mooncake.

After some quick thinking, Little Cato sighed and realized he had to relax and sleep on the events of today. He did nearly die today due to his reckless actions. "You guys are right. I can see why you and my dad got along so well. You're a pretty cool guy, Gary."

"Aw, thanks, man. Well, good night, Little Cato." Gary waved as he and Mooncake exited the room

"Wha-pa!" Mooncake exclaimed happily

"Goodnight guys, and thanks for listening." with that talk in mind, Little Cato was able to rest peacefully for the first time since he lost beloved father.

 **(THE END)**

 **That's my first Final Space fanfiction. Please leave an honest review, tell me what you think and have a nice day.**


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